The present invention relates generally to lottery transactions.
As is well known, a lottery is a game in which players receive a chance to win a (typically large) prize, such as money or products in exchange for purchasing entries to the lottery. A lottery ticket typically embodies such an entry.
One lottery game, known as “lotto”, typically requires the player to choose six numbers between one and forty-two. The selected group of numbers are then compared to the winning lottery numbers, which have been randomly selected from the larger pool of numbers, between one and forty-two, at some specified time and date after purchase of the lotto ticket. To win a prize, the player-selected lotto ticket numbers must match all or some of the winning lottery numbers.
Typically, a lottery system utilizes a central lottery computer to communicate with remote lottery terminals. A player typically selects numbers on a lottery “sense mark slip”, and the lottery terminal operator inserts the sense mark slip into a reader at the lottery terminal, which optically reads the sense mark slip using a known mark sensing process. Alternatively, some lottery systems offer automatic lottery number generation features, commonly referred to as “quick-pick” systems, which randomly select lottery numbers on behalf of the player. The lottery terminal then communicates the player's selected numbers to the central lottery computer for validation and storage. After the lottery numbers have been stored, the lottery terminal, under the direction of the central lottery computer, prints and issues the official lottery ticket.
Lotto drawings are typically conducted on a periodic basis, with many state lotteries conducting lotto drawings twice per week. Players may purchase lotto tickets at a lottery terminal, or via a subscription that automatically enters a player in the lottery game for a predefined number of weeks, often at a discounted price.
If the jackpot prize is not awarded for a particular lotto drawing, the jackpot prize value typically rolls over to increase the jackpot for the subsequent drawing. Thus, jackpots increase from week to week when there is no winner. The amount of the jackpot prize is typically determined based on a sales trend from the prior year.
A drawback of existing lottery systems is the need for some players (e.g., who do not or cannot purchase a subscription) to wait in line in order to purchase a ticket. The typical wait time increases as the potential value of the lottery drawing increases, and as the end of the drawing approaches. Consequently, potential players may be discouraged from participating. Many other features of conventional lottery systems discourage broader participation by players.